Leveraging Social Network Analysis in the Study of Ethnically & Racially Diverse Schools and Classrooms

• In Event: Ethnically and Racially Diverse Classrooms, Friendships, and Their Developmental Consequences: Contributions of Social Network Analysis

Abstract

The United States is currently the most racially and ethnically diverse it has ever been in the history of the nation (US Census Bureau, 2019). Based on current demographic trends, the nation’s population is predicted to continue to diversify, with the school-aged population at the forefront of these changes (Forum on Child & Family Statistics, 2019). Beyond the moral imperative to embrace diversity, diversity has the potential to be associated with positive social and academic benefits for everyone (Ayscue, Frankenberg, & Siegel-Hawley, 2017; Tropp & Saxena, 2018). However, despite the promise of diversity, there are real challenges to reaching these beneficial outcomes (Williams, 2018). These challenges translate to contradictory findings on the benefits of diversity, where diversity is not always found to be associated with the positive academic and social outcomes, for everyone (see Yip et al., 2019 for a review). To understand the mixed empirical findings associated with diverse schools and classrooms it is important to consider why and how diversity is theorized to be associated with positive outcomes (Graham, 2018).

There are four common theoretical positions that scholars draw from to describe the mechanisms that explain how diversity is associated with positive outcomes. These theoretical perspectives include: intergroup contact hypothesis, cognitive theory, the belongingness perspective, and the resource concentration perspective. Common across the four theoretical perspectives is the fact that social processes are the catalyst for positive change. For intergroup contact hypothesis and cognitive theory intimate interactions spark cognitive dissonance and growth in perspective and cognitive ability. For the belongingness perspective and the resource concentration perspective, both of which draw from social capital theory (Putnam, 2002), social connection to others provide both psychosocial and instrumental resources needed to catalyze positive outcomes. While the assumption may be that social capital can be activated by just being in the same room, such as a classroom or a school building, relationships are necessary for capital to be accessed (Bebbington, 2007).

Studies that examine the benefits of ethnic/racial diversity typically explore how measures of structural diversity predict outcomes (Budesco & Budesco, 2012), however because of the necessity of social processes in activating the benefits of diversity, there is an increasing call to utilize social network analysis (SNA) in the study of diverse settings (Gonzalez & Antonio, 2012; Hewstone, 2015). The relational and structural nature of SNA is ideal for the investigation of how diverse schools and classrooms and related to positive academic and social outcomes. To aid in this investigation, this paper explores specific network statistics, what they mean, what they operationalize, how they are calculated, and how they can be used in practice. In particular, we discuss network density, network integration, network equity, degree centrality and eigenvector centrality. By utilizing SNA in the study of diverse schools and classrooms, researchers can begin to better understand the social processes that make diversity beneficial. Further, understanding the specific processes that make diversity beneficial will provide educators with a more robust understanding needed to support students’ social processes in diverse schools and classrooms.

Authors

• Haley E. Johnson, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• Joanna Lee Williams, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauren Molloy Elreda, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author